1st murder victim identified

City cops canvass worried neighbors

It was clear from the detectives' faces that they had come to Theresa Bunn's home with bad news.

Bunn, 21, had been missing since Monday evening, and the pregnant woman's family had hoped hers was not the body found strangled and set ablaze in a garbage bin Monday night, the first of two women found murdered in similarly grisly fashion this week.

FOR THE RECORD - A photo caption accompanying this story contains corrected material, published Nov. 17, 2007.

But moments after detectives went inside the family's home Thursday, Bunn's family erupted in grief, their wails disrupting their quiet Englewood Street.

"She's dead. She's dead. My sister's dead!" Bunn's sister cried outside the family's home as neighbors on nearby porches shook their heads in disbelief. Sobbing family members ushered the woman's sister back inside.

Authorities identified Bunn's charred body through dental records three days after it was found in a garbage bin in the 6100 block of South Prairie Avenue, two blocks southwest of Washington Park. She was eight months pregnant.

"She was a very beautiful person," she said at the family's home, where dozens of people gathered. "She was just trying to have her baby."

Chicago police said detectives had no suspects in Bunn's murder but were talking to people who had "personal relationships" with Bunn.

Police are investigating whether Bunn's murder could be tied to the killing of a second woman, found strangled and set on fire in another dumpster a little more than 24 hours later, 2 miles away, in the 800 block of East 50th Street. That woman, described by sources as black, has not been identified, although police say they have received a number of tips about her possible identity.

Earlier on Thursday, police officers and cadets lined up for outdoor roll calls at both crime scenes and later handed out fliers. Deputy Chief of Detectives Michael Shields had said he hoped their presence would calm fears in the community and garner clues about the women's identities.

Police said the unidentified woman was wearing a blue shirt with a safety pin under a multi-colored shirt, a Martha Stewart blue or green fleece sweat shirt and blue jeans. Detectives from the Wentworth and Calumet areas are investigating the cases.

Shields said there was evidence found at the crime scenes that has been sent to the Illinois State Police crime lab for testing, but he would not go into detail. Police said they hope the lab will help identify what they suspect was an accelerant used on Bunn's body. Apparently, no accelerant was found on the second body.

Bunn was last seen Monday night, when she told family members she was going to a mall either in Chicago or Evergreen Park; she never came home. Her mother worried that a mental condition she had might have left her confused.

Bunn graduated from Englewood High School three years ago and loved music and having fun, her friends said. She was a petite woman, 5 feet tall and 135 pounds, as well as friendly and quick to pick up people's spirits, they said.

Laquesha Harris, 18, had known Bunn for more than a year and spent most of Thursday at the family's home.

"She was the quiet one, the one to make peace," Harris said.

Friends and neighbors gathered on front stoops in anger and disbelief, calling the homicide a "double murder" in a reference to her unborn child.

"She was just innocent and full of life," said friend Jarvis Frazier, 32. "There's no way in God's world she should have been found in a garbage can burned up."

Bunn had at least one stormy relationship in her past. She was the target of an order of protection filed in August by a man who accused her of making threatening phone calls to him and his family, saying he was the father of her unborn child and threatening to have him beaten, according to court documents. The man wrote that they had been involved, but that they had not had sexual intercourse. On Sept. 12, Bunn was arrested on charges that she violated the order by allegedly going to the man's home.

Twelve days later, Bunn responded to the man's complaint with a letter, saying the man and his mother were "stalking and harassing" her because she was pregnant with his child.

"I want them to leave me along (sic) they are stressing me out," she wrote. "They are trying to make me lose this baby."

Reached at home, the man's mother declined to comment.

Shields said police were aware of issues in Bunn's past and promised a full inquiry.

As police canvassed the neighborhoods where the bodies were discovered, residents talked of their concerns about the two homicides and the safety of their community.

"We need the police out here," said Theo Morris, clutching a flier Thursday morning while waiting for a bus near the trash bin where the second body was found. "It's sick. (The murderers) need to be caught."

Later, near the same location, behind Reavis Elementary School, J.R. Rider, 22, walked down the street with his girlfriend and their two children.

"They should have security and police around here because that's too close to home," said Rider, whose son attends the school.

Deana Martin, 37, who has lived in the neighborhood for nine years, left work early to get home "before it got too dark," she said. "This has really made me feel uncomfortable. I never felt unsafe before."